Clatworthy charts new course for state 14 July, 2008

John Clatworthy urges General Assembly to reject tax hikes, cut spending instead“Delaware has a spending problem, not a revenue problem”, says Clatworthy “Our government should do the same thing Delaware families are doing, scale back to make ends meet.”

Hockessin, DE – John Clatworthy, fiscal conservative and candidate for State Senate, called on Delaware’s General Assembly not to raise taxes on Delaware families already struggling to cope with rising costs. Delaware politicians have been calling for tax hikes on consumer goods, health care, businesses, and Senate Democrats are even pushing to increase the personal income tax.

“Delaware families are struggling to cope with an uncertain economy and rising costs of everything from gasoline to groceries. How can our leaders even think of adding to their burden by making them pay more taxes?” said Clatworthy.

“Our government cannot justify a single tax increase when our budget has doubled in the past 12 years and our state spends more money per h ousehold than any other state in the continental United States. Ronald Reagan had it right when he said ‘Governments don’t reduce deficits by raising taxes on the people; governments reduce deficits by controlling spending and stimulating new wealth.'”

State government spends over $20,000 per household and the state budget has gone from $1.7 billion in 1996 to $3.4 billion in 2008.

“State spending has doubled, but our schools aren’t twice as good and our roads aren’t twice as good. Now these same politicians are asking Delawareans to render even more of their hard earned dollars — there’s clearly a tremendous amount of waste and mismanagement in state government. Citizens elect leaders to b e good stewards of their money, not waste it and demand more.”

“I know very few families whose budgets have doubled in the past 12 years and I don’t know a single family who hasn’t had to cut back to adjust to these challenging economic times. Our government should do the same thing Delaware families are doing, scale back to make ends meet.”

John Clatworthy is a husband, father and businessman from Hockessin. He’s running for State Senate in the 4th Senatorial district, which was vacated by Sen. Charlie Copeland who is now running for Lt. Governor.